Journalists and writers are curious. They do curious for a living. We look to them to be our proxies. To investigate. To ask questions. To tell stories. I do curious for a living, but I’m not smart or talented enough to be a great journalist. I’m a professional appreciator and occasionally I like to s*** on airlines that ruined my day. Not the same thing. Not the same skill. DAVID REMNICK is the editor of THE NEW YORKER. Unlike me, he is that smart. He is that good a writer. He is an excellent journalist. I’ve had dinner with him a few times over the past 10 years or so at my friend STRAUSS ZELNICK’s house. He probably wouldn’t remember. But I remember how good he was during fireside chats with influentials. It was a treat. And I learned something. Always. I’m new to politics. And while it’s been interesting. I’d rather swallow thumbtacks during this administration. But if you have to read about it, THE NEW YORKER and Remnick's work on this President alone is “journalistic excellence” as one friend of mine put it. But this week, many fans of both were disappointed that he booked an interview with STEVE BANNON at the prestigious THE NEW YORKER FESTIVAL. Missed it? Explainer here. Bannon said he "would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation.” And if you have to interview a lying, hating, angry, steamrolling subject like Bannon, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone as good as Remnick to do it. But that wasn’t the point to many. Why? Because Bannon is a known quantity. We can’t learn much more. His hate is well documented. His stance on loyalty over duty is too. His "let AMERICA burn and rebuild it" philosophy is on the books. His racism disguised as national pride is on lock. And when people didn’t want to listen to his crap anymore. He tried to infect EUROPE and their elections. Because Bannon doesn’t really care if you interview him or not. If you do, he’ll try to bully you. Talk over you. Sort of like TRUMP. He’s a steamroller. The only difference is Trump is a moron. Steve Bannon is not. So he assumes he’ll win and get his point across. Remnick reacted to pressure from the public, from festival attendees, and guests on the roster. They weren’t going if Bannon was in. So David pulled him. Some think that plays into Bannon’s hand. Yes, it does. That was preordained. But that wasn't the mistake. It was the initial booking. I can see how it happened. The guy does curious for a living. And he was going to do the proper kind of adversarial interview. But again, nothing to be gained for anyone other than Bannon. Why give him a mic after all he's said and done? The journalistic sense kicked in. But the overall impact and meaning were lost. And in the eyes of some smart people, he messed up big time. I was disappointed too. It happens. He’s human. I’m sure that Remnick doesn’t feel great about what went down in retrospect. But ultimately, he did the right thing by not allowing a pulpit for evil. That's my take. When you think of the importance of journalism now more than ever. When you think that mere humans fill a role we depend on that is almost superhuman. There are few people on the planet as good or better than DAVID REMNICK. This is a blip. Nothing more. And for those of us that want to learn new things and understand the truth. We’ll still be reading him and THE NEW YORKER... I'll be joining THE WRAP's SHARON WAXMAN at this year's GRILL CONFERENCE at the SLS HOTEL in LOS ANGELES on OCTOBER 1st and 2nd, talking about the big shifts in media and entertainment. Maybe you've noticed a few? It's always a pretty stellar lineup of thought leaders and the top business strategists, a place to schmooze it up - and you get punished by having to hear directly from me. Some of this year’s guests include producer WILL PACKER, AMC NETWORKS CEO JOSH SAPAN, FTI valuation guru ROY SALTER, DOLBY Chief Scientist POPPY CRUM (great f***ing name), SNAP Head of Content SEAN MILLS and CEO of MOVIEPASS-owner HELIOS & MATHESON, TED FARNSWORTH. Because no one should ever pay full price to see me do anything, Sharon has offered REDEF subscribers a serious discount. Thank her, not me. Go to: thegrill.thewrap.com. Discount code: REDEF -- 30% off of standard ticket price of $1,795. Offer ends SEPTEMBER 7th at 12 am... Special Happy Birthday shoutout to one of my closest pals, MIKE MARQUEZ. He's 63 today.